Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 22 Dec 2025 | Updated: 24 days ago
Event Listings and Venue Data
Dataset
Summary
Description:
Data Thistle collects event listings and venue information from numerous sources, compiles and standardises their format.
Data Thistle aims to have complete coverage of short-duration events and venues, particularly in the cultural and sports sector, such as live music events and sports matches.
## Content
For this initial release, seven areas in the UK have been identified. A JSON file is supplied for each area, along with a CSV containing a simplification of the individual performances data in the JSON file. Two additional concatenated CSV files also be supplied (see below). Two metadata files that describe the fields/formats are also supplied, and are additionally accessible below. Please note that, if referring to these metadata files, we do not supply images. Impact (importance of the event) and capacity information, are included.
The summary and data dictionary files below are based on a conversion of a concatenation of the JSON files for the seven areas, to a pair of CSV files - one containing the performances (events happening in a particular place and at a particular date/time) and one containing the place (venue) information including locations - across all the areas.
## Quality, Representation and Bias
The selected regions available in this initial product represent a reasonably representative selection of areas across the UK, with inclusion of at least one area in each UK nation. The completeness improves towards the current date. As a curated dataset managed by the data provider, the data quality is in general excellent. The nature of the source data and diverse nature of the upstream data providers does mean there are a small number of inconsistencies present in the data.
Approximately 37% of the performances are categorised with film, with the next two most populous categories being Kids and Music. Together, these three categories form two-thirds of the listed performances. Selected other categories include Sport, Talks, Exhibition, Days out, Festival and Conferences.
Long-running/repeating events, such as exhibitions and visual art, which were ongoing before 1 January 2022, have their start schedule date snapped to this day.
The last 10 days worth of data contain considerably more performances than for previous days. This is because, due to the volume of entries, historic film listings information from major cinema chains is not retained for longer.
Contact Point:
Documentation
Documentation:
Source URL: Data Thistle Attribution: The data for this research have been
provided by the Geographic Data Service (GeoDS.ac.uk), a Smart Data Research UK
Investment: ES/Z504464/1. Columns: 21 (performances), 18 (venues) Entity:
Performance Granularity: Precise location Rows: 403279 (performances), 3641
(venues)
Coverage
Spatial
Spatial Coverage:
- Liverpool City Region CAUTH
- North East CAUTH
- West Midlands CA
- LB Waltham Forest LAD
- Belfast City LAD
- Glasgow City LAD
- Cardiff LAD
Temporal
Start Date:
01 January 2022
End Date:
30 November 2025
Frequency:
MINUTE
Provenance
Author 1
Name Organisation:
The data for this research have been provided by the Geographic Data Service
(GeoDS.ac.uk), a Smart Data Research UK Investment: ES/Z504464/1.
Origin
Name:
Geographic Data Service